There are four things which you who seek to work with glamor
need to grasp; four basic recognitions which, [71] when understood, will serve to clear
and lighten, and therefore straighten your way:

Each human
being stands in an environing world of glamor which is the result of:

His own past, with its wrong thinking, selfish desires, and misinterpretation of the
purposes of life. There is, or has been, no comprehension of the intended life purpose as
visioned by the soul and there cannot be until there is some definite organization of the
mental body.

His family "desire life," both past and present. This becomes increasingly
potent as evolution proceeds and the desire life of the family unit becomes marked and
emphasized, constituting then inherited and demonstrated psychological tendencies and
characteristics.

National glamor, which is the sumtotal of the desire life, plus the illusions, of any
nation. These we term national characteristics and they are so persistent and marked that
they are usually recognized as embodying national psychological traits. These are, of
course, based on ray tendencies, past history, and world interrelations but constitute in
themselves a glamorous condition out of which every nation must work as it marches on
towards the realization of (and identification with) reality.

An extension of the above idea into what we call racial glamor, using the word race to
mean the human race. This constitutes a very ancient glamor or almost a series of
glamors, of entrenched desires, potent aspirations of some kind and definitely human-made
forms which - fluidic, enveloping and pulsating with dynamic life - seek to [72] hold the
consciousness of humanity upon the astral plane. Such a glamorous concept is that of money
and its materialistic value. This glamorous desire is like a dense widely distributed fog,
cutting off the vision of truth, and distorting a very large number of human values.

This fog,
this glamor which envelops humanity at this time must be realized as a definite
substantial thing, and must be dealt with as such. The disciple or aspirant who is seeking
to dispel glamor, either in his own life or as a service rendered to the world, must
recognize that he is working with substance, with the breaking up of the forms which it
has assumed, and with the dissipation of a material all-enveloping substance - material in
the same sense as thought-forms are substantial things but (and here is a point of
importance) of a less substantial nature than the forms of glamor found upon the astral
plane. We are quite willing to remember that "thoughts are things" and that they
have a form life and a purpose of their own. But they have a more unique and separate
existence, and more clearly defined and more definite outlines. The forms of glamor on
the astral plane are even more substantial but are less clearly defined. Thought-forms are
dynamic, penetrating, clear cut and outlined. Glamors are smothering, vague, and
enveloping. In them, a person is immersed as in the ocean or in a "sea of fog."
With thought-forms, he is confronted or faced, but not immersed. It might almost be said
that the astral body of a person comes into being as a part of the general world glamor;
it is difficult for him to differentiate between his own astral body and the glamors
which affect and sway and submerge him. His problem upon the mental plane is more clearly
defined, even if it is equally difficult. [73]

Astral
glamor is a form of energy and an energy of great potency, owing to three factors:

It is of such an ancient rhythm, being inherent in astral substance itself, that it is
most difficult for a human being to become aware of it or to understand it; it is the
result of the agelong activity of human desire.

It is a corporate part of a man's own energy nature, and therefore constitutes for him
the line of least resistance; it is part of a great world process and therefore a part of
the individual life process also, and is, in itself, not wrong but an aspect of reality.
This realization necessarily complicates man's thought about it.

It is likewise definitely Atlantean in nature, being brought to a very high point of
development in that race. It can therefore only be finally dissipated by the Aryan race
using the right technique. The individual who is learning to dissipate glamor has to do
two things:

Stand in spiritual being.

Keep the mind steady in the light.

From this
it will be apparent that the energy of the astral plane as it expresses itself in the
sentient desire life of the race, produces the major glamors of humanity, and can only be
dissipated, dispersed and dispelled by the bringing in of the higher energy of the mind,
motivated by the soul.